These guidelines are especially prevalent in events like the men’s 1500 meters where none of the likely contestants have yet achieved the ‘A’ standard. Without this flexibility, athletes overexert themselves in time trials the weeks leading up to the championship meet rather than focusing on performing their best at the championship itself.

Without reading the guidelines particularly carefully, I just assumed the top three placers in each event would have the privilege of chasing for the standard if they didn’t already have it. I was soon corrected by UC Davis head track and field coach Drew Wartenburg that the top FOUR actually get to chase.

Confusing? Consider this case study.

Heading into the women’s 5000 meters at the 2011 USATF Championships, only one women starting the race, American record holder Molly Huddle, had the ‘A’ standard.

Huddle won the race handily, but the drama came in the next two slots, where Mammoth Track Club teammates Amy Hastings and Angela Bizzarri finished second and third, respectively. Since neither had the ‘A’ standard of 15:14.00, both headed to Europe in pursuit of the mark. If either hit it, the other would also go to Daegu. But after extensive chasing – and arguably but understandably over-racing – neither was able to dip under the standard.

Huddle and Hastings were on the team. Since the U.S. is allowed to take up to two ‘A’ and one ‘B’ qualifier, USATF expanded its scope beyond just the top four at nationals, thus technically violating its own rules. Going down the order of finishers at USA’s, the next person with an ‘A’ qualifier was Desi Davila in sixth place, but since she already started fall marathon preparation, the Hansons-Brooks team member passed on the opportunity. Next in line was Lauren Fleshman, who despite finishing just eighth at USA’s looked impressive in winning a Diamond League race at Crystal Palace with an ‘A’ standard time.

In this case, reaching down to select Fleshman was clearly a wise decision as the Stanford grad went on to finish seventh at the World Championships, one spot higher than she placed at USA’s. I do not blame USATF was what they did in the Fleshman case. However, I do fault the organization for having a lack of clarity about the rules. If more than just the top four are allowed to chase for standards, then that must be explicitly stated in the guidelines. All I’m asking for clarity so that sthletes outside the top four at U.S. championships can plan their European seasons according to whether they have a real hope of being selected for the U.S. team.

Then again, the bottom line may lie in a tweet from agent Dan Lilot: “The simple answer is that USATF reserves the right to decide what to do on the fly.”

Mar 23, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans coach Ron Allice at the 2013 Trojan Invitational at Cromwell Field. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Ron Allice ended his coaching career on Saturday after 50+ years in the sport, including the past 18 years as head coach at the University of Southern California. His last NCAA meet was a pretty darn good one with his two star seniors Bryshon Nellum and Reggie Wyatt both taking home their first national titles. The Trojans finished fifth in the team standings, a strong performance for a team that only sent five men to Eugene this past weekend.

But after finishing just 11 points behind co-champions Texas A&M and Florida, one has to wonder about how USC would have fared if the cookie had crumbled differently.

The Trojans  left points on the table when they suffered the loss of sophomore sprinter Beejay Lee, the Pac-12 100 meter champion, failed to qualify out of regionals due to an injury. The rapidly improving Lee was tied for fourth with teammate Aaron Brown on the national list and was a favorite to make the NCAA final prior to getting hurt.

Even a bigger contributor to USC’s title hopes could have been Josh Mance. The Olympic 4×400 relay silver medalist silver medalist transferred to Florida State this past December after a falling out with the coaching staff at Southern Cal. Mance’s short stint in Tallahassee was tumultuous one as he was suspended from the team after allegations of involvement in a gunfire case. Mance was later cleared of all charges, but the suspension lead to him forgoing his collegiate eligibility to sign a professional contract to run for Nike.

Mance’s season best is 45.08 from the Oxy Invitational, slower than his personal best of 44.83 from the 2012 NCAA meet. The time would have placed fifth in Friday’s 400 meter final. Although I’m confident Mance would have finished higher in such a competitive race, we’ll conservatively add four points to the Trojans’ column.

Mance’s departure also forfeited any 4×400 hopes USC had. With him in the lineup, the Trojans would have fielded a formidable squad consisting of Mance, 400 meter hurdles champion Wyatt and 400 meter individual champion Nellum. Even without a strong fourth man, USC surely would have been in the mix with the Florida’s and Arkansas’s of the world. The extra toll of running relays may have negatively impacted individual performances for Nellum and Wyatt, but in this purely hypothetical exercise, I’ve taken the liberty to hypothetically say they wouldn’t have been harmed too much.

Add three points for Lee in the 100, four for Mance in the 400 and six in the 4×400, and the Trojans win the national title by two points over A&M and Florida.

Coach Allice will already retire as a legend of the NCAA coaching ranks but going out on top could have made that departure even sweeter. Oh, the possibilities.

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(Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)

It’s crunch time. With all the early and mid season races complete, we now have a good sense of who’s fit and who’s not. For those who don’t have qualifying standards out of the way yet, there are still Diamond League meets in New York and Eugene as well as lower key competitions like the Portland Track Festival remaining to chase fast times. But before we know it, we’ll be in Des Moines for the U.S. championships June 20-23 with trips to Moscow later in the summer on the line.

Here we go with the rankings:

Men’s 800 meters

1. Nick Symmonds
2. Duane Solomon
3. Erik Sowinski
4. Charles Jock
5. Brandon Johnson
Darkhorse: Khadevis Robinson
Others: Elijah Greer, Ryan Martin, Tyler Mulder, Cas Loxsom, Mark Wieczorek, Mike Rutt
Notes: After hovering in the 1:46 range for the last two years, Johnson broke through with a 1:44 run at Oxy and is certainly a favorite to make the U.S. final. Making the World team, however, is a different story. Running 1:44 in a one-off race is one thing, doing it on the biggest stage in Des Moines is another.

Symmonds took the 1500 win at Oxy, continuing to show he has potential in the metric mile; Jock and Rutt both got the ‘A’ standard at Oxy; Sowinski gets his first Diamond League test on Saturday as he’s set to race Rudisha, Robby Andrews and others in The Big Apple; Robinson is racing this season but likely not until the U.S. Championships.

Women’s 800 meters

1. Alysia Montano
2. Phoebe Wright
3. Geena Gall
4. Ajee Wilson
5. Chanelle Price
Darkhorse: Laura Roesler
Others: Lea Wallace, Kate Grace, Alice Schmidt, Latavia Thomas
Notes: This was a tough one to rank. The field appears to be completely wide open after Montano. There are a bunch of women who have run in the 2:00/2:01 range but none other than 1500 specialist Brenda Martinez who have dipped under two minutes.  Those who can run either the 800 or 1500 like Wallace are wise to choose the half-mile given it’s unpredictability this far in 2013.

Men’s 1500 meters

1. Matt Centrowitz
2. Andrew Wheating
3. Leo Manzano
4. Will Leer
5. Garrett Heath
Darkhorse: Andy Bayer
Others: Dave Torrence, Russell Brown, Jordan McNamara
Notes: I have a hard time seeing anyone but the top three, who also happen to be the same trio from last year’s Olympic squad, making the team for Moscow. Centro, Wheating and Manzano are the three who’ve proven time after time that they step up in the big races. Leer has shown some good performances in 2013 but he’s also never put it together to finish top three at an Olympic or World qualifying meet.

Women’s 1500 meters

1. Jenny Simpson
2. Brenda Martinez
3. Mary Cain
4. Katie Mackey
5. Gabe Anderson
Darkhorse: Shannon Rowbury
Others: Treniere Moser, Sarah Brown, Kate Grace
Notes: It seems that everything has been said about Mary Cain, so I’ll provide some thoughts on Simpson. After her 2:00 800 meter win at Oxy, Simpson is not only back to her old self, she looks to be in better 1500 shape than she’s ever been in. She’ll get to test herself against a top caliber 1500 meter field in Rome on June 6. Simpson is a definite medal contender for Moscow, even if three women ran sub-3:58 in Doha. Remember that Aregawi and Genzebe Dibaba both ran fast early last year but didn’t have any juice left by the Olympic Games. Until they prove they can periodize their training correctly, I’ll give the “big meet racers” like Simpson the benefit of the doubt.

Men’s 3000 meter steeplechase

1. Evan Jager
2. Dan Huling
3. Donn Cabral
4. Cory Leslie
5. Billy Nelson
Darkhorse: DeSean Turner
Others: Donnie Cowart, David Adams, Travis Mahoney
Notes: Leslie had a huge breakthrough, running 8:20 at the Tokyo World Challenge; Jager and Huling both open up in the steeple at Pre Classic; Cabral didn’t look so great finishing seventh at Oxy in 8:34.

Women’s 3000 meter steeplechase

1. Emma Coburn
2. Bridget Franek
3. Jamie Cheever
4. Ashley Higginson
5. Shalaya Kipp
Darkhorse: Nicole Bush
Other: Stephanie Garcia, Amber Henry, Alexi Pappas
Notes: There were no ‘A’ standards in this event from Oxy, but Nicole Bush did continue her rise from the ashes running the ‘A’ standard at the Ponce Grand Prix in Puerto Rico; took for some fast times to come out of the New York Diamond League race with Franek, Garcia, Higginson and Sara Hall entered.

Men’s 5000 meters

1. Bernard Lagat
2. Galen Rupp
3. Lopez Lomong
4. Ben True
5. Chris Derrick
Darkhorse: Eric Jenkins
Others: Andrew Bumbalough, Chris Solinsky, Hassan Mead
Notes: Not much movement here as no one got the ‘A’ standard at Oxy. I did find it odd that the Salazar crew didn’t go after the ‘A’ mark of 13:15 more aggressively until you think a little more about it. Mo Farah and Dathan Ritzenhein, the only two Oregon Project athletes in contention for the ‘A’ standard, both didn’t really need a fast time as Farah has a bye to Worlds as the defending champion and Ritz won’t be running the 5k at nationals anyways. Could letting the pace go slowly been a ploy to prevent other Americans like Solinsky or Aaron Braun from getting the standard? We know Salazar leaves no stone unturned, so it’s certainly a possibility.

Women’s 5000 meters

1. Molly Huddle
2. Kim Conley
3. Abbey D’Agostino
4. Julia Lucas
5. Treniere Moser
Darkhorse: Brie Felnagle
Others: Amy Hastings, Alisha Williams, Chelsea Reilly, Julie Culley, Emily Infeld
Notes: This should be one of the more intriguing races come the U.S. championships. Huddle looked awesome at Oxy and has to be considered the favorite. After that, it’s wide open. Weather will be a huge factor at USA’s with the race being contested at 3pm on what’s sure to be a hot and humid summer day in Des Moines. Conley, who she doesn’t yet have the ‘A’ standard, trains in Davis, Calif. where summer weather conditions are very similar. Others like Lucas, Moser and Felnagle who spend their time in the cool temperatures of the Pacific Northwest might find the balmy weather difficult to deal with.

Men’s 10,000 meters

1. Galen Rupp
2. Dathan Ritzenhein
3. Chris Derrick
4. Ben True
5. Matt Tegenkamp
Darkhorse: Sean Quigley
Others: Aaron Braun, Ryan Vail, Bobby Curtis, Luke Puskedra
Notes: Rupp is a lock in the #1 spot, but the battle for the next two spots will come down to True, Derrick and Ritzenhein. We’ll almost certainly see Rupp and Ritz utilize some sort of team tactics to help each other out.

Women’s 10,000 meters

1. Shalane Flanagan
2. Kara Goucher
3. Lisa Uhl
4. Amy Hastings
5. Neely Spence
Darkhorse: Jordan Hasay
Others: Alisha Williams, Tara Erdmann
Notes: No real changes here; Uhl and Spence are both in the Pre Classic 5k.

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